Permanent document binder



F. H. HARRIS PERMANENT DOCUMENT BINDER Filed Oct. e, 1920 ug. 5. 1924.y

' intermediate portion Patented Aug.- 5, 1924e UNHTED ST FREDERICK H.

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HARRIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PERMANENT DOCUMENT BINDER.

Appncaton filed octber s, 1920. serial 1ro. 414,993.

To all cl2/wm t may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK H. HARRIS., a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in.Permanent Document Binders; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in document binders, and refersmore particularly to a novel binder which is so constructed and arrangedthatthe documents to be permanently bound therein can be perforated andbe strung on flexible lacing elements in the nature of tapes which aresuitably connected to a narrow strip or stub to which one of the coversof the binder is hinged, the free ends of said elements, after anallotted number of documents have been strung thereon, being adapted tobe conf nected to a like stub of the other cover member, the stubs ofthe covers, with the interposed documents thus strung on said lacingelements, being adapted to be joined together by a gummed strip which isadapted tooverlie the back of the book thus produced.

The said flexible lacing elements on 4which the perforated sheets are tobe strung may constitute the ends of a continuous tape, the of which isfixed, as by means Vof paste, to the stub Vof one cover member, with thefree ends of the tape brought out in a way to be laced through theperforations of the sheets or documents to be bound in the binder andadapted to be fastened at their terminals to the stub of the other coverin any suitable manner. For instance, said terminals may be lacedthrough appropriately located holes in said latter stub and laid flat onsaid stub and may be fixed thereto by a gummed strip overlying the stuband saidY terminals. The objects of the invention are to improve,simplify, and reduce the cost of such binders and to provide a binder inwhich the sheets or documents can be xed in the binder to form Tanattractive book that can readily be handled and in which the sheets areconfined in such a way that the leaves or sheets can be opened fiat forready inspection of the contents of the data thereon. The inventionconsists in t-he combination and arrangement of the parts shown in thedrawings and described in the specification, and is pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings: i

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the binder partially broken away, witha group of documents permanently bound therein.

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken on line 2 2 of Figure3.

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 3`3 of Figure 2. y

Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of what will hereinafter betermed the back cover, and the parts of the binder associated therewith.

Figure 5 .is a like perspective viewof what will hereinafter be known asthe front cover.

In the drawings, l0 designates the back cover of the binder; l1the'front cover thereof, and l2 a group of sheets which are adapted tobe bound between the covers. Said covers can be made principally offiexible material, suitably reinforced at their back margins toconstitute clamping vmembers or stubs hinged to the covers proper, andbetweenl which stubs the edges of the sheets are bound.

`The invention has to do with the manner of hingedly `joining togetherthe covers l0 and 11 at the back of the book ultimately formed, and tothe means for permanently binding the sheets 12 between the stubs orclamping, elements of the covers.

From an inspection of Figures land 5, it will be noted that the coversl() and 11 terminate at their rear edges in narrow, elongated stiifeningsections orstubs 141, 15 respectively. The stub 14; has flexiblyconnectedV or hinged to it the hack cover l0, as by a flexible gummedstrip. 16, which lies under both said back covenand the stub 14;, with.the members 10 and 14 slightly separated, as shown in Figure 4, toproduce a hinge at this place. The said gnmmed exible strip 1.6 extendsbeyond the rear edge of the stub 14, when the parts are made up, to forma flexible binding` flap 17, for a purpose hereinafter described. Thestub l5 is likewise hingedly connected to the top cover 1l by a flexibleguminedv strip 18, and said stub l5 and cover l1 are slightly spacedalongtheV line where they are thus connected together to form a hingejoint.y

l beyond 20, 20 designate flexible lacing elements on which theperforated documents or sheets 12 are adapted to be strung. They areconnected to and rise from the stub 14 of the rear cover member and aremade of such length as to receive a desired number of leaves. The saidflexible lacing elements may be, and conveniently are, integral parts ofa tape 21 made of any suitable flexible material, such as linen. Thetape 21'extends longitudinally beneath the stub 14 and between it andthe gummed strip 16, so that the tape may be firmly bound in place. Theintermediate portion of the tape y21 thus fixed to the stub is shorterthan the length ofthe binder back, and the stub 14 is provided withapertures 22, upwardly through which the flexible lacin elements,constitute ing the ends of the tape, are extended, as best shown inFigure 4. It will be noted that by placing the tape 21 between the stub14 and the gummed strip or flap 16', with the gummed face of the striptoward the tape, the tape can thus be firmly anchored to the back coverand thereby firmly fix the iexible lacing elements in place. Y

This .arrangement constitutes means for conveniently and fixedlyattaching the flexible lacing elements to the stub, though it is obviousthat the said flexible elements may be otherwise attached to the coverstub to perform the same function.

The leaves or documents 12 are perforated at 25 so that they may bestrung over the flexible lacing elements 2O until the capacity of thebinder is reached. The stub 15 of the top cover is provided withapertures 26 which are located in positions to register with theaperture 22 of the stub 14, through which pass the terminals of theflexible lacing elements after the perforated sheets have been strungthereon. Thereafter the ends of said lacing elements are turned towardseach other to lie flat upon the front cover stub 15 in the mannerindicated in 'Figures 1 and 2.

Said lacing element terminals may be permanently fastened to the frontcover stub 15 after they have been turned inwardly to lie thereon, bymeans of a narrow gummed strip 28, which may be attached at 29 by thegum which it carries to the stub 15 outwardly the adjacent aperture 26.Thus, when theterminals ofthe flexible lacing elements 20 are extendedthrough the apertures 26 and are turned inwardly toward each other over,the stub 15, the narrow gummed strip 28, which is gummed on its lowerface, is pasted throughout its length over the stub 15 and over saidterminals 2O so as to firmly hold tlie latter in place.

The purpose of the extension flap 17 will nowappear. It is gummed on itsface adjacent to the tape 21. Byy moistening the gum on the flap 17 andturning it inwardly over the stub 15, andrtheY gummed strip whenemployed, and beyond said section upon the rear margin of the covermember 11, the said flap is madel to stick or adhere to the underlying`parts of the cover 11 and its stub 15 and thereby. reinforce the rear-margin" of the covers 11 and their stubs.

It also constitutes a means for neatly linishing the back of the coverthus formed. From an inspection of Figure 1, it will be observed that,in the absence of the gummed strip 28, the gummed flap 17 would overlieand fasten the terminals of the flexible lacing elements down on thestub 15 of the top cover. The use of the strip 28 is preferred, however,inasmuch as it strengthens the structure and produces a generally neaterappearance.

It will be noted that the elements 14 and 21 on the rear margin of onecover and the overlying members 15 and 28 on thek corresponding marginof the other cover constitute, together with the members 16, 17, and 18,reinforcing elements toy reinforce the back margins of the coversl toproduce clamping elements between which the rear margins of the sheetsare firmly clamped, and there held by the lacing elements, on whichythey are strung. The construction shown provides a very neat, durable,strong, and inexpensive device for binding sheets for permanentreference'. Its construction renders the operation of placing the sheetsin the binder a very simple one, and the ultimate book produced isattractive and easily handled to expose the entire portieri of any sheettherein bound.

I claim a-s my invention:

1. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each other andhaving stubs at their rear edges which lie in the respective planes ofsaid covers, flexible lacing elements fixed to the stub of one cover andthreaded through apertures in, and lying upon, the stub of the othercover, and flexible strips separate from the covers and stubs to hingesaid covers to their respective stubs, one of said strips being extendedbeyond its associated stub and arranged to be folded over and fastenedto the other stub and the adjacent margin of its associated cover and toalso overlie the terminals of said lacing elements.

2. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each other andhaving at corresponding edges .narrow stubs, and gummed strips separatefrom Vthe covers and stubs hingedly` connecting the stubs to theirrespective tween one gummed strip and its corresponding stub and havingterminals adapted to extend through apertures of the stub of the othercover and to lie flatwise on the latter stub, the gummed strip ofthestubffroin which the said terminals spring being arcovers, a tapesecuredbe-- ranged to be folded over the stub of the other cover to bindthe covers together and to hold the said terminals in position.

3. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each other andhaving at corresponding edges narrow stubs, separate gummed stripsseparate from the covers and stubs tohinge said stubs to theirrespective covers, one of said strips having an extended flap, a tapelying longitudinally along and secured to one of said stubs and havingterminals adapted to extend through apertures in the other stub and tolie flatwise thereon and a narrow gummed strip adapted to be appliedover the-latter stub to permanently fasten the tape terminals thereon,said extended flap being arranged to be folded over the latter stub tobind the stubs together a-nd to overlie said narrow gummed strip.

' 4. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each otherand having separat-e means to bind them together at correspondingmargins, and embracing separate hinged stubs at said correspondingmargins, flexible lacing elements attached to one of said stubs andadapted to pass through perforations of sheets to be bound in thebinder, and the other stub being perforated to receive the terminals ofthe saidv lacing elements, which latter are adapted to lie flat on thelatter stub and to be confined therebetween and the means which bind thecovers together.

5. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each other, andone provided at its rear margin with a hinged stub, flexible lacingelements attached thereto and adapted to pass through per'forations ofsheets which are to be bound in the binder, the other cover beingprovided at its rear margin with a like stub perforated to receive theterminals of the flexible lacing elements, and a gummed strip separatefrom the covers and stubs for hinging said latter stub to its cover andadapted to be fastened over the other stub and to overlie said lacingelement terminals.

6. A document binder comprising two covers separate from each other andprovided at corresponding margins with perforated stubs, a tape lyingunder and secured to one of said stubs, with its ends constitutinglacing elements which extend through the perforations of the latter stuband are adapted to extend through perforations of the other stub, andstrips separate from the covers and stubs to hingedly connect said stubsto their respective covers, one of said strips having an extensionadapted to enclose and bind together said stubs at the back of thefinished binder and to overlie the terminals of said flexible lacingelements.

7. In a document binder,` the combination with two covers separate fromeach other and provided at corresponding margins with narrow hingedstubs, lacing elements fixed to one of said stubs and having terminalsadapted to extend through apertures in the other stub, and a flexiblegummed strip separate from the covers and stubs adapted to be foldedover and pasted to said stubs and to overlie the terminals of saidlacing elements.

In witness whereof I claim the foregoing as my invention, I hereuntoappend my signature this twenty-eighth day of September,

FREDERICK H. HARRIS.

